penality

P3E1N1A1L1I1T1Y4

noun

The quality or state of being penal; liability to punishment.

Scrabble 13
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Meanings

nounpenality (countable and uncountable, plural penalities)

plural penalities

  1. countableuncountableThe quality or state of being penal; liability to punishment.

    Many of the Ancients denied the Antipodes, and some unto the penality of contrary affirmations

    1650, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], 2nd edition, London: […] A[braham] Miller, for Edw[ard] Dod and Nath[aniel] Ekins, […], →OCLC
    1 more example

    penality is not merely an effect or a specific result of neoliberalism but is a core defining feature.

    2020, Roger Hopkins Burke, Contemporary Criminological Theory

Origin

See penalty.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

penality. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/penality

MLA

“penality.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/penality. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “penality,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/penality.

Source: penality on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.